Sony Music Website In Greece Hacked

May 24, 2011

Sony said on Tuesday it discovered a security breach affecting 8,500 user accounts in a music entertainment website in Greece.

Sony Corp. spokesman Shigenori Yoshida said personal data including names, phone numbers and email addresses may have been stolen in the security breach. Yoshida said no credit card numbers have been affected.

Sony shut the Greece website down on Sunday and is investigating the attack.

This attack comes on the heels of another attack that forced Sony’s “PlayStation Network” system to shut down, affecting over 100 million online accounts around the world.

Sony said it aims to fully restore the service by the end of May.

The company said on Monday that it spent $170 million to cover costs of the security breach, which included identity theft insurance for customers, improvements to network security, free access to content, customer support and an investigation into the hacking.

Analysts say it is one of the biggest data breaches in the history of the Internet and could cost Sony $1 billion.

Sony reported that it expects a net loss of $3.2 billion for the year.